Ice distribution and level control

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for controlling filling of an ice bin from an ice refrigeration apparatus where the ice is added to the bin and distributed by a rotating slinger powered by an electric motor and including a switch in the refrigerator power supply. When ice accumulates in the bin, it drags the slinger and increases the power requirements to the motor. This is reflected as a current change. A level detector senses current flow outside a permitted range. The detected change opens the switch and turns off the refrigeration equipment.

United States Patent [1 1 McAshan, Jr. 7

[111 3,810,386 1 May M, 1974 ICE DISTRIBUTION AND LEVEL CONTROL [76] Inventor: Robert Burton McAshan, Jr., 1719 I S. Post Oak Ln., Houston, Tex. 77027 22 Filed: July22, 1971 21] Appl. No.: 1 5,144

[52] US. Cl 62/137, 73/59,.200/6l.2l, 307/252 B [51] Int. Cl. GOln 11/14 [58] Field of Search 62/136, 137; 222/64; ZOO/61.2, 61.21; 73/59, 60

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Wright; 62/137 2,708,361 5/1955 Boyle et a1 73/59 Primary ExaminerWilliam E. Wayner [57] ABSTRACT An apparatus for controlling-filling of an ice bin from an ice refrigeration apparatus where the ice is added to the bin and distributed by a rotating slinger p0w ered by an electric motor and including a switch in the refrigerator power supply. When ice accumulates in the bin, it drags the slinger and increases the power requirements to the motor. This is reflected as a current change. A level detector senses current flow outside a permitted range. The detected change opens the switch and turns off the refrigeration equipment 9 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTED MAY 14 I974 means located in and dependent on the level of ice in the remotely located ice storage bin.

General objects of the present invention are to provide for the distribution of ice in the remote bin in a level and uniform manner and to cause the ice machine to be turned on and off in a manner dictated by the level of ice in the bin and by this level of ice alone.

A more specific object of this device is to incorporate in the same simple element both the means for uniformly distributing the ice within the bin and the means for shutting off and turning on the ice machine, dependent only'on the level of ice in the bin.

A more specific object of this invention is to provide an on-off control utilizing solid state switching techniques with increased reliability and life.

Another object of this invention is to provide a means of immediately switching the ice machine on as soon as the level of ice in the bin drops below a certain finite elevation, I

Still another object of this invention is to provide a means of distribution and control of ice easily produced and installed on a large number of icemachines currently in use in cafes, lounges, hotels, theaters and the like, such installation being easilymade at the location of the ice machine and with a minimum of disruption of the supply of ice used daily by the owner of the ice machine. 4

Other objects of this invention will in part become obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements and'arrangement of parts, which will be exemplified in the construction' hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in-the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 .is a perspective view of ice machine 12 connected by flexible delivery means 13 to ice storage bin 42 which may be located at a convienient point from which ice is to be dispensed. Ice machine 12 is also connected by pipe 23 to a water supply and electrical cable from terminal 11 to one side of a suitable power line, such cable is numbered 9 on FIG. 1, and ice machine terminal 10 is connected by cable 8 to one terminal of control box 1, hereinafter referred to as binfil. Terminal 6 of binfil is connected to terminal 10 of ice machine 12 and terminal 7 of binfil is connected to the other side of aforementioned power line. Thus it is seen that should terminals 6 and 7 of binfil be connected together, ice machine 12 would be connected across the line and caused to start. One side of power line L-l is connected by conductor 2 to remotely located ice machine terminal l4.'The other side of the line is connected to terminal 5 of binfil. Terminal 4 of binfil is connected by conductor 3 to terminal 15 of binfil.

FIG. 2 is modified cross section of ice bin 42. Flexible delivery means 13 enters into interior of ice bin 42 and is held by bracket 19 which in turn is fastened by fastening means 21 to an inside wall of ice bin 42 in a position to downwardly direct the ice discharge onto revolving' distributing means 18. In the embodiment shown, the end of flexible delivery means 13 is bent to more convieniently deposit the incoming ice at a point close to the center of revolving distributing means 18. This is certainly not the only manner in which the ice may be deposited on said revolving distributing means. For example, it may be more convienient in a given in stallation to bring the flexible delivery means 113 in from the top of ice bin 42. In this case there would be no necessity for bending the end of the delivery means. In the preferred embodiment, the location of motor 24 is as high a point as is practical in the ice bin 42 in order to provide for maximum ice storage capacity below the horizontal revolving distributing means 18. Motor 24 is therefore mounted by means of brackets 16 and attachment means 20to the interior of ice bin 42 in a manner to allow free revolving of revolving distributing means I walls of ice bin 42. Motor shaft 17 is threaded and extends through a hole of slightly larger size in revolving distributing means 18. This hole is located in the center of distributing means 18. The motor shaft 17 is attached to revolving distributing means 18 by a lock nut threaded onto motor shaft 17 on either side of revolving distributing means 18. It is concievable that motor I 24 may in some instances be mounted exteriorly to ice tion rather than in a full circle as is shown in this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a circuit schematic of the binfil located within control box I. 6 and 7 are the ice machine control terminals and 4 and 5 are the signal input terminals from shaded pole motor 24. The inductance of motor 24, the capacitance of oil-filled capacitor 40 forming creative element and the inductance of primary of transformer 39 form a series circuit in which the current is a function of the values of the inductances and capacitances therein. Since the inductance of a shaded pole motor increases with increasing speed of rotation,

which corresponds with a reduction of load, it is evident that with a fixed line frequency, a value of capacitor 40 may be chosen to produce a current flow which results in substantially line voltage appearing at terminals l4 and 15 of motor 24 when motor 24 is revolving at its full speed and at no other time. Hence, when distributing means is substantially free to turn, current flow is sufficient to cause a high signal voltage to appear across the secondary of transformer 39. On the other hand, if distributing means is restrained from reaching full speed such as will be occasioned by the friction of ice already distributed in the bin, voltage across secondary of transformer 39 will be low. The changes in voltage level are supplied to a detector means to detect significant changes. This signal voltage isrectified by full wave bridge rectifier 38, tapped by potentiometer 37, filtered by filter network 34, 35, 36 and 41. Capacitors 35 and 36 are of sufficient value such that minor speed variations of revolving distributing means 18 such as might be caused by large slugs of ice being discharged are integrated and operation is continued. When signal voltage is high, neon bulb 32 which forms a voltage level means, is caused to ionize and go into conduction caused by the positive potential at the juncture of 34 and 41 and the negative potential of the cathode of SCR 31. This positive potential may be raised or lowered by means of potentiometer 41. With positive bias applied to its gate terminal, SCR 31 goes into heavy conduction, effectively shorting full wave bridge rectifier 30 and causing TRlAC 27 to be turned on through resistor 28. Since TRlAC 27 is a bi-direetional device, it conducts at a very early point in the alternating current cycle as long as signal voltage is high. It should be noted that TRIAC 27 also turns off every time the ac voltage goes thru zero. This is insured by dv/dt preventer network of capacitor 25 and resistor 26. Thus, TRIAC 27 behaves as a static switch, being turned on or off in accordance with the magnitude of signal voltage theTRlAC 22 providesa binary off-on signal and always being switched at a point close to zero voltage. There exists enough ripple present at the neon bulb to tend to synchronize the ionization of neon bulb 32 to the rising voltage of the AC cycle.

When signal voltage is low as occasioned by the slow ing or stalling of motor 24 due to the friction of distributed ice on revolving distributing means, there is no longer a high enough voltage to maintain ionization of neon bulb 32 and it ceases to conduct. This removes the forward bias from TRlAC 27 which reverts to its blocking or off condition on the next ac cycle. Neon bulb 33 and resistor 43 provide a source of light when TRlAC 27 is in its blocking or of state. This source of light tends to stabilize the firing or ionizing point of neon bulb 32 since the two neon bulbs are physically located adjacent to one another.

Thus it is seen that ice machine 12 is turned on or off by the level of ice in ice bin 42. It is also seen that ice ,machine 12 will be turned on as soon as enough ice has been removed or has'melted to free revolving distributing means 18. Thus the ice machine 12 is turned on or off directly by the level of ice in ice bin 42.

In the preferred embodiment, all the circuitry shown on FIG. 3 is incorporated on a plug-in circuit board with the exception of motor 24, shaft 17 and revolving distributing means 18 which are shown forillustration. It should be pointed out that the ionizing or firing voltage of neon 32 is on the order of volts higher than the maintaining voltage of this neon bulb. This and are in no way intended to limit this invention to that shown on the drawing.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above construction and installation and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown on the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetw'een.

Having described my invention, what l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An apparatus cooperative with an ice storage bin which is filled from an electrically powered ice refrigeration machine wherein the ice is stored in the bin by the present apparatus, comprising:

an electric motor having a shaft;

an ice distributing means operatively connected to said shaft;

an electrical distribution system connected to said motor for providing current thereto for its operation;

detector means cooperatively arranged relative to said electrical distribution system, said detector means detecting a change in the operative condition of said motor as will occur on accumulation of ice in the bin to a level to interfere with operation of said ice distributing means;

said detector means comprising a reactive circuit element cooperatively connected relative to said motor and said electrical distribution system as to form a signal which varies with load on said motor;

level means connected to said circuit element for rejecting varying signals outside a specified range and accepting signals in a specified range; and,

switch means operated by the signal from the level means of said detector means and adapted to be wired to the ice refrigeration machine for tuming it on to make ice, said switch means turning the ice refrigeration machine on and off by providing thereto a binary signal as determined by said level means.-

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said reactive circuit element is a capacitor serially connected to said motor.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 including a transformer connected as an input for said detector means, and said detector means is input to a rectifier circuit which forms a DC level input to said level means.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said level means is a neon lamp which blocks its output and the output thereof is connected to a silicon controlled rectifier.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 including side by side rectifiers in an AC circuit which is adapted to be connected to the ice refrigeration machine.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said rectifiers form a triac.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 including in said switch means an electronically triggered component having a eration machine.

into the storage bin until said slinger encounters difficulty in rotating and then slows said motor to alter the current flow thereof.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 including a disc mounted on said motor shaft. 

1. An apparatus cooperative with an ice storage bin which is filled from an electrically powered ice refrigeration machine wherein the ice is stored in the bin by the present apparatus, comprising: an electric motor having a shaft; an ice distributing means operatively connected to said shaft; an electrical distribution system connected to said motor for providing current thereto for its operation; detector means cooperatively arranged relative to said electrical distribution system, said detector means detecting a change in the operative condition of said motor as will occur on accumulation of ice in the bin to a level to interfere with operation of said ice distributing means; said detector means comprising a reactive circuit element cooperatively connected relative to said motor and said electrical distribution system as to form a signal which varies with load on said motor; level means connected to said circuit element for rejecting varying signals outside a specified range and accepting signals in a specified range; and, switch means operated by the signal from the level means of said detector means and adapted to be wired to the ice refrigeration machine for turning it on to make ice, said switch means turning the ice refrigeration machine on and off by providing thereto a binary signal as determined by said level means.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said reactive circuit element is a capacitor serially connected to said motor.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 including a transformer connected as an input for said detector means, and said detector means is input to a rectifier circuit which forms a DC level input to said level means.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said level means is a neon lamp which blocks its output and the output thereof is connected to a silicon controlled rectifier.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4 including side by side rectifiers in an AC circuit which is adapted to be connected to the ice refrigeration machine.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said rectifiers form a triac.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1 including in said switch means an electronically triggered component having a pair of terminals adapted to be connected in series to a voltage source and the electrically powered ice refrigeration machine.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said distributing means comprises a disc shaped slinger mounted on a shaft below an opening means where ice is dropped onto said slinger and is thrown by the rotation thereof into the storage bin until said slinger encounters difficulty in rotating and then slows said motor to alter the current flow thereof.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1 including a disc mounted on said motor shaft. 